Posted by Glenn on August 27, 2001 at 16:44:25:
In Reply to: Careful with taking (filetting?) of Scallops... posted by Jason 22 on August 27, 2001 at 14:13:55:
When on a scallop expidition make sure to bring a small boning knife with a very flexible blade in addition to your normal prying instrument.
What I do is jam my US Divers Broadsword knife/prybar into the scallop before it closes. If it does close, put the tip against the seam with the blade parallel to the two halves of the shell and give the butt a thump.
Now that you have the scallop pried open, use the flexible boning knife to cut the medalion by pushing the blade up against the inside of the shell and cutting it while maintaing pressure against the inside of the shell. After cutting through one side it's the same thing with the other side. It will result in a nice clean medalion with very little waste, and some happy fish. One word of caution, if there are girabaldi in the area keep them away as they will snatch that prized medalion from your hands quick. And it's as if they know you can't touch them. Using the flat side of the knife or prybar, however, can give them something to think about. You can clean the medalion up very nicely and quite easily before sticking it in your bag. Also keeps the fish happy and after your first few scalops ensures an audience the rest of your dive.
I've found this method ever so much easier than trying to coerce the scallops open on the surface. Also, when scallops are on the surface they can snap closed, and believe me, it hurts.